Also on MapHist, Tony Campbell points to this scorching blog entry by Travis McDade (a library administration professor and author of The Book Thief; see previous entry). Dade is writing about two thefts of rare books from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library; while not about maps, this is an unbelievable look into how libraries can enable thefts even when the thieves follow their security procedures. Key graf:

In all of my years of covering these thefts, I don’t think I’ve quite heard of anything like this. And just so the folks at the Hayes Presidential Library know, they’ve made it into my class. They’re on the flippin’ syllabus from this point on. Starting this semester. I’m shoe-horning them in. I’ll make room. And Soon. Destruction of Nineveh. Destruction of Alexandria. Looting of Poland, 1939-1950. Rutherford B. Hayes Library. Before I get to Transylvania, before I get to Breithaupt and Harner and Smiley and Blumberg and Spiegelman. My students have got to hear this and hear it immediately.